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Shaker Mill Pond

Shaker Mill Pond

  • A small shallow pond artificially created by the impoundment of water through the damming of Bennett’s Brook by a Shaker community (largely based in Harvard) in the late 1700s
  • Part of the 5010 square mile Merrimack River Watershed (which also receives water from the Nashua River and its watershed)
  • Receives water at its western end from Bennett’s Brook flowing north from Harvard into Ayer and crossing underneath Shaker Road
  • Discharges its water at its eastern outlet over the remnants of an old Shaker dam/spillway and former mill, continuing from there to flow northeast, once more as Bennett’s Brook, until it reaches Spectacle Pond
And if you want to learn more…

 

General Description and History
Not as much is known about Shaker Mill Pond as is known about Ayer’s other ponds.  One of the early American Shaker communities was established in Harvard, MA in the 1780s.  (The Shakers were a millenarian Christian sect first founded in England in 1747, eventually spread to the colonies by Ann Lee (aka Mother Ann Lee) and her followers.)  The metal and stone remnants of a granite stone mill spillway at the eastern end of Shaker Mill Pond can still be seen.  The mill structure was built by the North Family, one of the four families that the Harvard Shaker Village was divided into (the other three were Church, South, and East).  The foundation of the mill is still intact and is composed of large granite boulders on either side of the stream (Bennett’s Brook) exiting the spillway.  Remnant mechanical parts of the old mill can also be seen in the debris collapsed within the foundation.

While Ayer’s other ponds are part of the Nashua River Watershed, Shaker Mill Pond, in contrast, drains in a different direction and is part of the larger Merrimack River Watershed.  It is all still connected though.  The Nashua River flows northward to Nashua, New Hampshire.  There it joins the much longer Merrimack River as a tributary.  The Merrimack River, having originated further north, in Franklin, New Hampshire, takes in the Nashua River and continues wending its way south and then northeast until it discharges into the Atlantic Ocean in Newburyport, Massachusetts. 

When Bennett’s Brook is reconstituted after leaving Shaker Mill Pond, it flows northeast into Spectacle Pond.  After Spectacle Pond, the water flow continues northeastward through a series of streams, ponds and reservoirs until it, too, joins the Merrimack River in North Chelmsford, Massachusetts. 

While Spectacle Pond is located mostly in neighboring Littleton, a small portion, at its western tip, is located in Ayer.  The Town of Ayer’s primary wells for public drinking water are located at Spectacle Pond (in addition to wells at Grove Pond).  This means that protecting the water that flows into Spectacle Pond through Bennett’s Brook and Shaker Mill Pond is just as important as protecting other waterbodies in Ayer.

Residential properties along Route 2A/Littleton Road abut the northern shore of Shaker Mill Pond, but their backyards are separated from the shore of the pond by undeveloped, forested buffer zones.  A new subdivision is now under construction immediately south of Shaker Mill Pond, but except for the entrance to the subdivision that is immediately adjacent to the inlet into the pond, a 100 foot wide undeveloped and forested buffer zone has been preserved.  This buffer zone will be part of the open space that will be permanently protected under a Conservation Restriction. 

Trophic Status
Ponds, lakes and other surface waterbodies can be evaluated on scales that rate their trophic status.  This status indicates the amount of ‘biological productivity’ (or total weight of living biomass at time of measurement) that a waterbody sustains.  Biomass in a waterbody is usually dominated by either aquatic vegetation or algae.  Waterbodies can range from oligotrophic – less biomass/’good’ water quality; mesotrophic – moderate biomass/’fair’ water quality; and eutrophic to hypereutrophic – high/dense biomass/’poor’ water quality.  Too many ‘nutrients’ in a waterbody (especially from phosphorus and nitrogen runoff from stormwater, nearby fertilizer use, septic systems, etc.) will lead to an increase in plant and/or algae growth and a decrease in water quality as the process of eutrophication continues.  While eutrophication is a natural process of nutrient enrichment in aquatic ecosystems that takes place gradually over time, it can be dramatically accelerated by the impact of human activities that increase the flow of nutrients into waterbodies and their surrounding watershed.

According to a Conservation Analysis done by Oxbow Associates, Inc. in 2018 for the nearby subdivision project south of the pond and which included Shaker Mill Pond in its assessment, Shaker Mill Pond was designated by Oxbow as a moderately eutrophic waterbody.

Impairment
The Federal Clean Water Act (effective in 1972) governs water pollution in the United States, and requires states to identify waterbodies that do not meet EPA standards and are designated as “impaired.”  Shaker Mill Pond is not listed as an impaired waterbody in Massachusetts.

This sign project was funded by a community grant from the Nashua, Squannacook, and Nissitissit River Wild & Scenic Stewardship Council.